UCLA football gears up to face Washington, looks to extend three-game win streak

Sophomore kicker Mateen Bhaghani releases a kick in a game against Iowa. (Nicolas Greamo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
Football
Washington
Friday, 6 p.m.
Husky Stadium
FOX
By Noah Massey
Nov. 13, 2024 12:55 p.m.
Washington faced Michigan in the College Football National Championship just last season.
But after enduring tremendous team turnover, this year’s Huskies are yet to clinch bowl eligibility.
UCLA football (4-5, 3-4 Big Ten) will travel to Seattle to take on Washington (5-5, 3-4) Friday night. The two teams have been on opposite trajectories lately, with the Bruins on a three-game winning streak and the Huskies falling in three of their last four contests.
While Washington has been struggling lately, it’s yet to be defeated on home turf this season.
“It’s a stadium that fans take pride in,” said coach DeShaun Foster. “It’s going to be loud. It’s going to be at night. It’s a big challenge for us, but we’ve played in hostile environments this whole season.”
The Bruins will also face a unique challenge they’re not used to – colder temperatures and the possibility of rain. While current weather projections have Friday night avoiding the brunt of rain, the possibility of a wet game is something UCLA has yet to experience.
Redshirt senior quarterback Ethan Garbers, who transferred from Washington following the 2020 season, will start for the first time against his old school.
“The goal every week is to win,” said redshirt senior wide receiver Logan Loya. “This one might be just a little sweeter for him (Garbers) obviously, a place that he came from. There should be a little chip on your shoulder when it comes to this type of stuff.”

Garbers and Loya, who will both be playing their final collegiate road game this weekend, were instrumental in UCLA’s recent 20-17 victory over Iowa, where Garbers’ 29-yard connection to Loya at the end of the first half gave the Bruins a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the game.
Also instrumental in the Iowa win was sophomore kicker Mateen Bhaghani, who nailed a 57-yard field goal to open the scoring for UCLA and notch the second-longest field goal in program history – three yards short of former Bruin kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 60-yarder in 2015.
“Every time I go out there I try to keep the same routine,” Bhaghani said. “Same snap, same hold. I try to keep it similar even when we’re out there from deep.”
While UCLA has won its past three games, penalties have remained a pervasive issue as the Bruins currently sit tied for 124th in penalties per game with 8.11.
“We just have to continue to focus on my first pillar, that’s discipline,” Foster said. “We’ll take all the penalties, even though some have been questionable. It’s still a pillar of ours, and we have to hang our hat on it.”
The disparity in penalties was especially apparent against the Hawkeyes, where the Bruins amassed nine penalties for 84 yards while their opponents committed just two for 20 yards.
This season, Washington has had two games in common with UCLA – both having visited Penn State and Rutgers. While UCLA defeated Rutgers and fell 16 points short against Penn State, Washington was defeated by the Scarlet Knights and annihilated by the Nittany Lions last week, losing by 35-6 after falling behind 28-0 at halftime.
While the Huskies have struggled on the road, with all five of their losses coming away from Seattle, they have managed victory over Northwestern, then-No. 10 Michigan and USC at home – teams which all currently have similar records to UCLA.
With the Bruins on a three-game win streak after usurping an early 10-point deficit against the Hawkeyes, they’ll enter Husky Stadium with the opportunity to get a .500 winning percentage for the first time since week two.
“The confidence we have, it just keeps going up,” Loya said. “Just like how our play has been, how our record is going. We’re on the uphill right now.”